Sunday, May 21, 2017

You know, Pinterest can be a time suck. Especially when you
are new to the social media site. But over time, I have come to enjoy my time
with Pinterest. It keeps me occupied during lulls in Giant’s games, helps me
decide on projects to introduce at my monthly craft circle, and it provides me
with a never-ending wealth of recipes.

I have Pinterest boards for Breakfast, Lunch, Appetizers,
Dinner, and Dessert. There is a general Food category, Party food, High Tea, and
Inspired Food, which I share with Brilliant Daughter. Easter, Halloween, and
Christmas boards all have food items on them, and there’s a secret Paleo/Atkins
board when I want a substitute for carbs.

Needless to say, that’s a whole lotta pins.

So, I thought I would share some of my more positive
experiences with Pinterest recipes. (Because, believe me, not all recipes turn
out wonderfully….)

I thought I would start with two breakfast items: Lemon-Blueberry Bread and Cinnamon Swirl Donut Bread. Back in the
day…when all my kids were at home, I often made breads, muffins, scones,
coffeecakes, etc. Over the last few years, these items have been few and far
between. But I now cook every week for a friend with cancer.I like to include both a breakfast item and a
dessert, along with 3 meals. (The more calories, the better.) So, I spend every Saturday and/or Sunday on food
prep and baking.

The Blueberry-Lemon Bread recipe originally came from Glorious
Treats.Her pictures are far
more appetizing than mine could ever be, so I didn’t even bother with snapping
a photo. This moist breakfast bread is the perfect foil for my Meyer lemons.
(And yes, I still have about a dozen left on the tree!)

The tartness of the lemons with the sweetness of the
blueberries, all tucked nicely into a slightly sweet and dense cake-like quick
bread was a big hit with all who tried it. Perfect with a cup of tea (or
coffee), good for morning or afternoon (or even for dessert!). You will not be
disappointed. I promise.

Note: I also tried making this bread with dried
blueberries, but it just didn’t work. You need the moisture of the fresh
berries to keep the bread from being too dry. While it was still tasty, it was
only about 40% as good as the original recipe using fresh blueberries.

My second Pinterest find for today is Cinnamon Swirl Donut
Bread from Lauren’s Latest.
I chose this recipe because it reminded me of one of the first things I
learned to cook in high school home ec. We made these very simple plain cake
muffins. No spices or fruit or nuts inside. Just a plain cake muffin. But when
they came out of the oven, and were still warm, we rolled them in melted butter
and then in a cinnamon-sugar mixture.

Oh. My. God. They were delicious. I must have made those
things dozens of time every year until I went to college. (Then I lost the
recipe and the internet wasn’t a thing way back then.)

This recipe has a similar bent, but instead of that plain
cake mixture, it has a swirl of tasty cinnamon goodness. It took only about 5
minutes to make it and there are no fancy ingredients. In fact I had everything
in the house, except the buttermilk, and you can make your own quite easily.

In essence, you have a tasty batter, of which you take out ½
cup and add a bit of cinnamon and molasses. Then you layer your plain
mixture—cinnamon mixture—plain mixture and then give it a quick swirl. Pop it
in the oven for 45 minutes and let it cool for about 10. While it cools, you melt
some butter and make the cinnamon-sugar coating. (I put the butter in a sheet
cake pan and then in the cooling oven to melt.)

Pop out the bread, roll it into the butter and then coat all
sides with the sugar. We actually had some while it was still slightly warm –
better than any donut I’ve ever had. Seriously, you’ve got to try this, but be
prepared; it won’t last for long!

Monday, January 02, 2017

Yep, that’s what it’s been like at my house. I’ve attempted
two desserts—one for Christmas Eve and one for New Year’s Day—and both have
been failures in one way or another.

Desserts are my forte and I usually attack them with gusto
and typically produce great results. But recipe errors, missteps, and my
inability to make a presentable layer cake all contributed to these epic fails.
Well, maybe not epic. Both desserts were tasty, but not without some wasted
time, ingredients and consternation.

Let’s start with the Christmas Eve dessert. I actually found
this dessert back on November 28th and excitedly sent the recipe to
my brother, who we would be spending the holidays with. We love to collaborate
in the kitchen, so I wanted his approval for the Four-Layer
Salted Chocolate Caramel Tart. He wholeheartedly agreed, so I made sure I
packed all the requisite ingredients before making the trek down to SoCal.

Now, I had read the recipe, but had failed to notice that it
required a 13 ¾ x 4 ¼-inch tart pan. This is not a standard item in any kitchen
I know of and on Christmas Eve it was going to be hard to find. Actually, make
that impossible. We made a beeline to Jane’s Cakes in La Canada, who
have everything under the sun for baking, but no tart pan in that size. (Note:
subsequent searches have found that a 13 ¾ x 4 1/4 pan doesn’t seem to exist.
14 x 4 or 14 x 4.5 is available however.) So we had to make do with an 8-inch
round tart pan, which is roughly the same size, just different in shape.

This recipe takes hours to make, as each layer has to be
made and then chilled or baked and cooled. My brother and I should have made
the tart shell dough the night before, but were having too good a time with
friends, and wine was involved, and well…you know. So we began on Christmas Eve
morning. We made the dough with no problem. Then chilled it for 2 hours. Then
we kneaded and rolled and got it into the pan and chilled the dough again for 30
minutes. Finally, after 3 hours of the clock ticking by, we were able to bake
the first layer. Gonna be a long day…

We let the crust cool, and moved on to the fudge cookie
layer. I thought that the ingredient list felt like it was missing something.
The only liquid was egg and there was no baking soda or powder. But we
persevered, made the dough, and popped it into the crust and then the oven. We
waited 25 minutes and no crack in the layer, as the recipe indicated. Another 5
and still no crack. We finally had to take it out of the oven before the
requisite crack appeared as it was pulling away from the sides and looked to be
overdone.

Again, we let the two layers cool to room temp and then set
about to make the caramel layer. Four hours off the clock….

NOTE: Now you
might think that making this tart was all we had to do for dinner, given the
amount of time we have thus far spent on it, but that was not the case. We also
had to grate 2 pounds of fresh horseradish for our beef tenderloin, prepare 6
pounds of potatoes, clean and trim brussels sprouts and broccoli, set the
table, prep hors d’oeuvres. Arghh…I was definitely second guessing my decision
to make this dessert!

About Me

I live the life of a typical soccer mom in the suburbs with my husband, three children, and two cats. Working for a travel publisher for 12 years, I began visiting destinations through food, rather than by airplane. I learned about Thailand, India, Spain, and a dozen other countries through their cuisines. And that food remains a staple in my kitchen. My children grew up on curries, Provencal lamb dishes, moles, and the occasional meatloaf (on request). I am now taking the love of food farther afield and venturing into foreign lands, incorporating it into every travel destination I can get to, be it Erie, Pennsylvania or Taipei, Taiwan. Those of us in suburbia need to break out of the roast chicken, barbequed ribs, pork chop mentality and spice up our kitchens with the food of the world. We need to leave the canned veggies, packaged cookies, and oversweet jams on the shelves, and dig into the garden and flour bag and treat our families and ourselves to something better. As I continue to learn, I will share, and maybe someone will take the step towards a tagine or a brulee, and know that it doesn’t have to be complicated, and that the end result speaks for itself.